Stalker

68

It’s already five o’clock in the afternoon as Erik walks down the corridor of the Psychology Clinic with a cup of coffee in his hand. He can see a tall figure standing quite still against the ribbed glass of the stairwell. As he pulls out his keys and stops outside his door, he realises that it’s his former patient, Nestor.

‘Are you waiting for me?’ Erik asks, walking over to him.

‘Thanks for the lift.’

‘You’ve already thanked me.’

The thin hand moving across his chest stops, as grey as silk.

‘I just wanted to s-say that I’m thinking of getting another d-dog,’ he said in a low voice.

‘That’s great, but you know you don’t have to tell me.’

‘I know,’ Nestor replies, blushing slightly. ‘But I was here anyway, checking M-Mother’s grave, so…’

‘Was that OK?’

‘Would it be p-possible to b-bury her any deeper, do you think?’

He falls silent and takes a step back when Nelly approaches down the corridor. She gives Erik a cheery wave, but when she sees he’s busy she stops outside her own office and starts looking for her keys in her shiny bag.

‘We can make an appointment for you to come and talk, if you like,’ Erik says, glancing at his door.

‘There’s n-no need, it’s just…’ Nestor says quickly. ‘A d-dog is a big step for me, so…’

‘You’re better now, so you can do whatever you like.’

‘I know how I w-was when I came to you, I… You can ask me for anything, Erik.’

‘Thanks.’

‘You need to get on,’ Nestor says.

‘Yes.’

‘I walked and walked and suddenly it c-came to me,’ Nestor says with unexpected intensity in his voice. ‘I bent down and-’

‘No riddles, now,’ Erik interrupts.

‘No, sorry,’ the tall man says, and walks off.

Erik checks his watch. He’s only got a few minutes before he’s due to meet Margot Silverman, but he might just have time for a word with Nelly before then. He goes over to her room and knocks on the open door.

Nelly’s already sitting at her computer, and for once she’s got her reading glasses on. She’s wearing a white tie-neck blouse with black spots, and a tight burgundy skirt.

‘What did Nestor want?’ she asks, without looking up from the screen.

‘He’s going to get a dog, and wanted to talk about it.’

‘Maybe you need to tell him about the umbilical cord and the pair of scissors?’

‘He’s sweet,’ Erik says.

‘I’m n-not so sure,’ Nelly says.

Erik can’t help smiling as he walks over to the window and tells her that her idea for restructuring the crisis groups is already working well.

‘Yes, it feels pretty good,’ she says, taking her glasses off.

‘I’ve got a meeting with the police, but…’

She smiles. ‘It’s a shame I haven’t got time to join you.’

‘Nelly, I just wanted to say that you’re right,’ Erik says. ‘There are always problems once you start telling lies.’

‘Can we do this later?’ she asks.

‘It’s just… I want you to know that I’m going to do all I can to get Rocky out of Karsudden as soon as possible, and-’

‘Hang on,’ she interrupts. ‘I don’t want you to be upset, but I’ve spoken to Martin, and you know he likes you, he really does, but he says I have to report you to both the police and the Healthcare Inspectorate.’

‘Good,’ he says, and starts walking towards the door.

He leaves the room and sees that Margot Silverman and her colleague are waiting outside his door. They say hello and follow him to the floor below.

The meeting room has a glass wall facing the corridor, and new chairs that smell of plastic. Erik opens the window to let some air in and invites them to sit down. Margot fills a mug from the water dispenser, drinks, then refills it.

‘Well, of course you know that Olivia Toreby has changed her mind,’ he begins.

‘Rocky remembers a nine-year-old alibi, but not a single damn thing we can actually use,’ Margot says, sitting down heavily.

‘You wanted me to ask him about an accomplice, only we’ve ended up with the opposite… Rocky was wrongly convicted, and-’

‘What if he’s just faking his memory loss?’ she says.

‘He isn’t, but-’

‘He’s involved. He’s mixed up in this somehow.’

‘If I could just continue,’ Erik says, running his hand over the surface of the table. ‘The real murderer was never caught, and has suddenly started killing again… Both in conversation and under hypnosis, Rocky keeps coming back to a preacher who-’

‘A priest?’ Adam says.

‘A preacher who there’s probably good reason to take seriously, in light of the alibi.’

‘But you’ve got no name, no location…’

‘It takes time to find a way through the chaos… but under hypnosis he described how the preacher killed a woman by chopping her arm off… the problem is that I’m not completely sure how much of that is nightmares and how much genuine memories.’

‘But you believe there’s some truth in this?’ Adam asks, leaning forward.

‘He’s mentioned the preacher several times, even when he’s not hypnotised.’

‘But nothing about the murder?’

‘Rocky says he’s prepared to help the police if he can – at least, he was prepared to do so before, even if it was actually a fairly absurd situation. I’m trying to help him remember, but I don’t know anything.’

‘Everything is strictly confidential,’ Margot explains.

‘If you want his help,’ Erik says, ‘then you’re going to have to go and see him, and give him some details: names, locations, things that could trigger the process of remembering.’

‘It’s probably best if you carry on talking to him,’ she says.

‘I can do that, but-’

‘What do you need to make progress?’ Margot says.

‘That’s your decision.’

‘We’re still trying to hold the media at bay, even if our press officer doesn’t think that’s sustainable any more,’ Adam says.

‘It’s just that… We have no idea how the serial killer will react to a load of publicity,’ Margot says. ‘He might simply vanish, or-’

‘So we need to move fast,’ Adam says.

‘You can have some pictures of the victims to show Rocky,’ she says. ‘We’ve done a perpetrator profile, and I can tell you about his modus operandi and specific characteristics.’

‘Will you be including any fake information?’

‘Of course,’ she says.

‘As long as I know,’ Erik says.

Margot takes a deep breath, then begins to describe the killer’s methods and choice of victim.

‘So far it’s been women who are alone in their homes,’ she says quietly. ‘First he films them through a window, then he plans his attack, and then, once he’s decided to murder them…’

‘He sends the video to us,’ Adam says, in a heavy voice. ‘The killer finds his murder weapon at the scene and always leaves it behind.’

He leans over and takes three photographs out of his case, and puts them on the table, picture-side down.

‘As soon as you’ve shown these to Rocky, we need you to destroy them.’

Erik looks at the back of the pictures, which are inscribed with the names of the victims: Maria Carlsson, Susanna Kern, Sandra Lundgren.

‘Sandra Lundgren?’ Erik says, turning the picture over and gasping.

‘What is it?’ Margot asks.

‘She’s a patient of ours… God… She’s dead?’

‘You knew her?’